In scenes reminiscent of the 1993 film Cool Runnings, the Jamaican bobsleigh team had to be recently rescued when their van broke down prior to a race in Calgary, Alberta.

Returning to the same city in which they made their 1988 debut at the Winter Olympic Games, the perennial underdogs were hit with a stroke of bad luck as their van packed in on the way to the competition.

Fortunately for them, a passing Samaritan was on hand to lend his assistance.

Canadian David Schnerch was out doing some errands on Saturday when he noticed the team attempting to fix their van’s broken battery.

Instead of driving on, the kind-hearted local proceeded to offer the team a lift to Canada Olympic Park to ensure they would reach their race in time.

"Just focus on the race," he told the team. "We'll get you what you need."

Kathleen Pulito, the team's social media director, revealed afterwards that the team is on a tight budget and the van was supposed to take them across the country as they prepare for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

"We're just trying to do what we can, get one place to the next and hoping we don't run out of money," she said.

Shortly after the team tweeted about their predicament, a GoFundMe page had popped up to try and raise enough money for repairs.

After their race in Calgary, the team needed to travel on to Whistler for another competition - so Schnerch kindly offered to give him them the key to his truck.

"If they still need it, once they're done they'll get it back to me," he told the BBC.

Fortunately for Schnerch, a local car rental agency donated a van instead to enable the team to travel to British Columbia.